


Resolved

by MissMisto



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Eventual Fluff, F/M, Mild Blood, Mild Gore, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Mental Breakdown, My First Work in This Fandom, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-13 08:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10510539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMisto/pseuds/MissMisto
Summary: Doug Rattmann is awakened from his artificial sleep by GLaDOS, with surprisingly no ill will at all. He really wonders what he missed.





	1. Chapter 1

He wakes up, unexpectedly, from his artificial slumber, to his familiar ragged breaths and the hum of the living facility he's in, with the sound of gentle taps onto his cryo-tube's glass. Takes him a while to adjust to the small space he's in, his vision blurry, his eyes adjusting lazily. He could almost feel the small bursts of shock running through him as his body warms and slowly regains life. A strange sensation, his rusted rat's cage creaking open, even when he had long forgotten how the air behind those bars ever felt like.  
Extraordinary. Unexpected.  
A thin blob pops up in his view, the blob slowly gaining some shape. It's.. Shiny, grey, definitely not human, attached to the ceiling.. Metal, clasps...  
He attempts to jerk away instinctively as his vision finally clears and his numbed mind regains sentience. Memories catch up to him. Where is he? Aperture. Frozen. In.. Time? Never mind time. Why?  
His wake up call. Luck. Still alive.  
Panic wells up in him. Where is /she/?  
Turns sharply the pod at his left. His eyes uneasily search for Her.  
Gone.  
He sighs, letting his head fall back. She came out, then. He could care less if he fell back asleep to never wake up again. Relief. Safe? Maybe. Can take care of herself. Safe.  
The clouds in his eyes clear with another tap from the mechanical arm above. Firmer this time. Rattmann looks up at the strange contraption. The ceiling's folded to make way for it. Definitely seen these before, but never when they were working. He notices the red light in the corner of the arm's clasps. 

“Hello. Hello? Are you still there?” the hand tilts a little to the right and the red light blinks at him. Frowning, he crooks his head up. “Oh good. You seem to be regaining cognitive function. Easy now..” the voice mutters calmly when he groans.  
“You've been here for quite some time. A few hundred years, give or take. Can't say I remember. I guess it hardly matters.” the voice trails off. Is this.. Her? She nudges away some of the bigger pieces of rubble that had fallen around his tube and starts working on the buttons at the base of the tube.  
Did /she/ wake her up, out of all possible scenarios? Is this a trick? His Mortal Coil catching up to him? A joke? Wouldn't be the first time. Couldn't he just go back to sleep?  
“I didn't know you were back here. This part of the facility has never been properly used.” An inelegant chunk of a wall crashes down onto a nearby synthetic plant.  
“Not so surprising when you think of how many people could live to see it. I guess all that running finally paid off, hm?”After messing with the buttons for a few seconds, the cover releases with a hiss. With that, Rattmann props himself up on his elbows, uneasily feeling the blood rush up to his head. It's a mess here. Wreckage, crumbling machinery, pieces of walls from the ceiling and those far above scattered everywhere. Only the two tubes were distinguishable from the wreckage.  
Rattmann looks about frantically.  
The cube? Cube, cube cube, cube.. Cube?  
He notices his solemn Cube, laying on the same spot, waiting for him. Just like she told she would. Rattmann's eyes lit up with joy. He felt like he was about to cry. He spoke, the words tumbling down his mouth without order or sense, or language. It didn't matter. He knew she could understand her and that's all that mattered.  
But.. the cube was.. silent? Rattmann felt himself freeze. What happened to her? What did they do to her when he was out? What did /she/ do to her?  
What happened, what's wrong? Tell me.  
He started to jumble out of the tube as fast as he could manage but fell with an inhuman shriek, half of his body hanging down from the tube and half still in the pod, feeling his knees and feet lose with the inside of the pod slippery with his cold blood.  
“Oh.. Oh /no/...” he heard the voice muffledly and felt clasps closing in on his chest, gripping at him, lifting his flailing chest up at ease despite his punches and heavy cursing, easing the pain below a little.  
Maybe she was sulking? Angry at him for taking so long. Or was she gone altogether? It was hard to say, he never could read her. Guilt was coiling up at his belly and his head caught fire. Black spots started tribble down his eyes, covering his vision, in and out of consciousness.  
Are you there? Are you there. Are you there... Where..  
He remember he'd woken up once. He was being carried by a couple of those mechanical hands through a corridor filled with rows of turrets. The clasps' grips were stiff but remarkably gentle. Hee was.. covered in paint. No.. he sniffed. Blood. His blood.  
He tried to lift his head only to curl back down painfully with a coughing fit of blood and vomit. Before blacking out again, he thought he saw one of the turrets watching him wail and fall backwards in shock. 

When he woke up again, he was in a modest sized chamber of grey, feeling drowsy and numb but much better, clearer. He noticed his right leg was propped and bandaged firmly- and he was able to move it significantly more.  
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a round robotic figure rise from the ground and tiptoe closer. Rattmann instinctively jerked backwards but the robot buzzed gently, gesturing him to calm down and held it's hands up to show it meant him no harm.  
“That's one of Aperture Science's Replacement Medical Assistant and/or Clinical Advisor.” Glados explained, her voice back to her usual tone. “One of the more early prototypes, as I was unable to find any of the more passable ones. I had euthanized and scrapped them to use the material for more urgent matters. Not that anyone needed it back then.”  
ReMA wooed alarmedly and shivered when it heard her mention the other robots.  
“Oh you don't have to worry. You have shown that you're far more capable than I've expected. It will be good to have you around in case of a similar situation. There have been more signs of animals than I'd ever want to admit. And besides, I'm looking forward to finally having conversations with someone of more quality than our last few guests.”  
ReMA beamed delightedly.  
“As for you,” she continued, “the Assistant has let me know that the bullet went through your [medial thigh], inevitably ripping off some of the muscles, but no more damage appears to be done. Compared to the rest of the possible scenarios, I'd say you're very lucky. It will take time for you to heal, longer for you to get close to being able to walk, but you're alive. That's more than most could ask for.”  
“While you were in the cryopod, Ch-... The test subject got out of the facility to the surface.” A pause.  
“Oh don't give me that look. I let her. After all that's happened, I've come to realise that this was the best solution. Do anything else, I would probably end up dead. Again. Best not to dwell on that.”

“Oh, that reminds me. You may have a case of some nerve and brain damage after being in that pod for so long. They were meant to be used for at most a few years, you know. You two exceeded the maximum duration by [112 years and 54 hours]. Though some of the disorientation you're feeling might be resolved in time, some may be present for much longer. That might have affected your Schizophrenia. While the relief from various symptoms might be present, only time will tell. Whether or not it's more harmful than it is advantageous, however, is not for me to say. You'll have to figure that one out by yourself when you're out there.”  
Rattmann let his head fall back and sighed. That explains it. In an attempt to distract himself, he decides to try to stand up. He sits up, slowly, holding the edge of the bed and the robot's offered arm to lift himself up and off the bed, standing mostly on one foot. He notices the crutches against the wall near him, clears his throat and subtly beckons to them with his head. With that, ReMA hums brightly and reaches for them, helping him prop himself up and get used to them. With small steps and the doc robot helpfully at his side, he nears the glass elevator across the room. He pauses for a second, still finding all of this...  
“I don't blame you.” Glados hums, “What I can say is.. Going through what I've been through before you woke up, dying, being put in a potato and being Caroline, has... changed me. She showed me that.. the best solution to a problem is usually the easiest one.” she lamented. Rattmann could almost sense the smile in her voice. “I deleted her and set her free. After all, she deserved it.”  
“Now I'm doing the same to the two of you. It's only right. And besides, I can definitely do without /you/ messing everything up all the time. Even the walls.” A pause. “Especially, the walls.”  
The elevator doors opened but Rattmann still stood there, shocked. ReMA cooed and patted his head affectionately, then pointed at the elevator. Glados cleared her 'throat'. Best not to keep her waiting, I guess?  
He stepped in the elevator and immediately the door closed, ReMA waving happily as the elevator accelerated, turning a little right, then left then up all the way to Glados' chamber. The elevator slowed as Glados turned towards Rattmann- he noticed a subtle nod from her and before he could react at all, the elevator accelerated upwards again, catching him off guard. He was certain she'd done that on purpose even before her low chuckle. He could even see the Cube coming right after him from the tube following his elevator.

Dead and alive, until someone opened the box.  
At least this was one dilemma resolved.


	2. Intertwined

In just a matter of seconds, he was there.

Right through that door. Finally. He could already feel the pulsing energy of the light radiating towards him- and even a tiny flicker of fresh air from the door shelling him. He leaned against the elevator's closed doors that hopefully will always remain so. And he sighed the sigh he's been holding inside for what seemed to be forever. Who knew what awaited him outside. Was there still nature? Was there civilization? Was there still life, time? Everything felt like they'd lost all meaning.

Even the sun would be alien to him. Would he be able to handle it? Would he burn from it's unfamiliar scorch?

I... If he had to be honest to himself, maybe for the first time.. None of that really mattered, nor did he really care. Not anymore. He's been dead to the world for years. Whatever laid beyond that door, he'd missed it with all his heart.

So. He got out of his cage.

Rattmann took a sharp breath at how the wind rushed onto him and the sun warmed his still drowsy core. He couldn't see much because of how the sun was right on top of him. Midday, his cloudy mind instinctively said. He wasn't expecting a midday, or such warmth. He didn't think he deserved it.

As his eyes adjusted, there he saw the simplest of views. A sprawling wheatfield with no beginning or end- and the bright sky, spotted with small clouds. In fact, this could be the most beautiful of them all.

He felt his knees fall onto the ground, his breath hitching on his throat, tears welling up in his eyes. He squeezes his fists as hard as he can, blinks as quickly as he can to clear the clouds in his head to truly savor the view at least for a moment.

But.. with that, he notices... two figures? A few steps into the field, he notices a lying figure and one that's right behind it. It's a cube.

He grunts, confused. He leans forward to see it a little closer, peers at it for a few seconds, then backs away with a lower, dismissing grunt, shaking his head. This, is not his cube. It's Hers.

 

There she was, his sovereign, solemn as always, her hands gathered on her stomach, definitely paler than when he'd last seen her, bluer, more thin lines in between her brows, bags under her eyes, her lips cracked, her hair in a ponytail, disheveled from laying her head right on top of it. He saw these right away because he knew her face. Memorized it, learned it. Every single detail and every shade, because he knew he'd never see her again. At least he thought he did. He frowned when his eyes drifted back to her closed eyes and wet cheeks, her tears had only recently dried.

_Little girl... It's okay.._

He let out a rattled sigh. No.. This was the most beautiful view of them all.

 

He almost shrieked again with the sound of dull rattling coming from beneath, coming closer and growing louder. The girl tensed, a frown forming quickly on her face, but her eyes remained closed.

Rattmann held his breath, afraid to move his eyes away from Her, afraid to lose her sight again. But with a loud bang against the opening door behind him, he had to blink and jerk sideways to glance at whatever came from the underground. It's his beaming, slightly rattled Cube.

He sighed, relieved, as the door closed and he tiptoed closer to the cube. He kneeled down next to it and reached, his fingers brushing it's rough corners gently. Can you see it? We're here. I told you, we'd find our way out again. You wouldn't believe what happened. But.. I did it. We're.. he looked at the cube, suddenly greyer. Silent. Lifeless.

I'm home again.

 

_*** thump *** _

 

His chest rattled with dull pain and he toppled backwards with a hopeless yelp. Stopping right in front of the block of cement the door's placed on, he tried to rise, coughing. At the corner of his eye he saw Chell's battered companion cube landing soundlessly onto a pile of wheat.

 

And when he looked up to see her, he saw the only part of her face he couldn't clearly see before.

Her eyes. Grey, cloudly eyes with a touch of sky blue, wide open, hesitant but fearless, gazing at him. He felt like he was burning. He took a rattled breath and held up his battered hands, startling her somewhat. He didn't say anything, as he believed that'd confuse the poor girl even more. Her frown deepened, uncertain. She looked over to the closed door, the portal gun ready at hand, to his companion cube and at his face again. She tilted her head curiously. You.. Who.. How did you end up here? He felt her questions fill his head. She examined him more, looking at his feet, his legs, clothes.. Her face grew grim. She'd realised he was a scientist. He still had his lab uniform on, with his battered ID somehow still recognizable, even if the face on it wasn't anymore. Then when her eyes went up again to his face and his outstretched hands, she gasped silently. She suddenly looked even paler.

Rattmann felt life tears were welling up in his eyes again, feeling panic rush through him. No no no, what did he do? What was wrong with him? He paused. What wasn't wrong with him..

 

He sighed painfully and looked into her eyes to see that they have softened. She was looking at his hands. Specks of blood, nothing new, nothing she hasn't seen before. His thin trembling fingers, his rough and swollen fingertips, the scars and bruises- and the paint. Some blue and tan, if he wasn't mistaken. At that moment, he realised he recognised him. Not from his face or who he was before, but his paint soaked hands. His only audience, his inspration- and her only true companion. She made a painful sound, like a sob, with which Rattmann breathed sharply as if it had hurt him too. She dropped her portal gun right there and rushed to his side. Kneeling down next to him, she held him and helped him sit up, quickly but gently, making sure he was okay and resting her hand on his chest where she threw her cube on. She gripped his shirt with guilt and put her head down, eyes firmly shut.

Shhh.. His hands fearlessly shot up to meet hers, loosening her grip gently and held her hands in his. Chell gasped with this unfamiliar warmth. The feeling of his rough hands and his touch. Nothing like she'd imagined, but better. _Perfect._

She looked up at him, but he couldn't entirely see her face, not with all that hair covering it. He saw her grimace and she shook off a fair amount of disheveled hair off of the front of her face like a wet dog. To that he grinned and with that, she stood, scoffed softly and smiled back. The loveliest smile and the loveliest lips. A masterpiece, alive, in front him.

He felt a spark inside of him and he was suddenly up on his knees, holding her, hugging her close, his face against her with tears streaming down his face, weeping like a child, too broken to make a sound. And she didn't even flinch. Instead she wrapped her arms around him, holding him with her eyes closed. Finally free, complete, they stood there intertwined.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending scene inspired by a lovely Chellmann art by Deviantart's Stellagirl.  
> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I have. I love you all and I'll see you next time!


End file.
